Indian Cars Price Hike News & Updates

. This is a discussion on Indian Cars Price Hike News & Updates within Indian Auto Sector. Part of The Auto Talk category; Hike in diesel price has affected General Motors&#8217; cars too. I&#8217;m quite sure others will follow.
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Originally Posted by P Balendran, Vice President, General Motors India

"We have decided to increase the prices of all our vehicles upto Rs.10,000 depending upon the model with effect from the Ist week of June on account of increase in transportation costs/logistics due to hike in diesel price. In percentage terms, the quantum ranges up to 1.5 per cent depending on the model

Audi announced an increase in price of its model range available in India. The increase would range up to 4 percent across models from July 15, 2013.

“The overall market scenario is challenging. The depreciating rupee and rise in input cost have made us re-evaluate our pricing strategy in India and increase the prices of the entire range. However, we are offering the customers customized and innovative finance options from Audi Finance which will make their purchase more attractive”, said Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India.

Audi Q5 price increases by INR 1,52,000, Audi A6 price increases by INR 1,80,000 and Audi R8 price increases by INR 4,42,000. “In spite of the challenges, Audi is the growth driver of the luxury market in India. Audi India is also growing from strength to strength with 26 dealerships and new product launches like Audi RS 5 and Audi S6. Keeping our performance in mind, we are confident of achieving our target for the year”, added Mr. Perschke.

The luxury carmaker registered a total sale of 750 units sold in June 2013, a growth of 4 percent over the same period last year (June 2012: 718 units). For the period January to June 2013, the brand with the four rings grew by 21 percent, delivering 4846 units as compared to 4000 units during January to June 2012.

Audi India plans to expand its network to 34 dealerships by the end of 2013 from its existing 26 centers. The company opened new showrooms in Mumbai South, Lucknow and Bhubaneswar this year. Last year saw the opening of new Audi showrooms in Raipur, Kanpur, Goa, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Delhi West, Nagpur and Bhopal. Further developments include Noida and Vadodara among others.

BMW India has announced a price hike upto 5% across BMW and Mini cars range starting from 15 August 2013.

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Originally Posted by Philipp von Sahr, President, BMW Group India

“Following a path of sustainable growth, BMW Group India wants to maintain sustainable leadership in the Indian market with a strong brand and an exceptional model range with unbeatable product substance. The success of BMW Group India has always been built on long-term thinking and responsible action. We are making price decisions with all due care and consideration ensuring that they pay off in the long run. BMW Group India is committed to customers and is doing its best to ensure that the customers continue to enjoy Sheer Driving Pleasure.”

General Motors India has now announced to hike prices of its three models- Chevrolet Beat, Sail and Enjoy MPV by up to Rs 10,000 from the first week of September. The proposed 1.5 per cent hike is due to a sharp fall in rupee value against the US dollar. The new prices will come into effect from September 1. Other than these three models, the company is also evaluating whether prices of other products too will be hiked.

Commenting on the decision that the company had to unwillingly take, General Motors India Vice President P Balendran said:

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The sharp rupee depreciation combined with heavy discounting due to competitive pressure has adversely impacted margins. So, we have decided to raise prices in the range of Rs 2000-10,000 from September.

Currently, Chevy Beat model is priced in the range of Rs 3.90-5.99 lakh, while the Sail U-VA and Sail Sedan are priced at Rs 4.19-6.70 lakh and Rs 4.99-7.53 lakh respectively. The MPV Enjoy comes in the price range of Rs 5.49 to Rs 8.04 lakh

Mercedes Benz has also announced a hike in the range of 2.5% - 4.5% for all models w.e.f 1st September 2013.

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Mr. Eberhard Kern, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India commented, “The rising input costs along with higher import duties have been creating significant pressure on our bottomlines for quite some time now. The constant weakening of the currency and the increase in other relevant taxes further impacted the business, adversely. We have been absorbing a significant portion of these impacts till now, but to run a sustained and profitable business in the long run, revising the prices upwards was inevitable. However, despite the price hike, the attractive financial solutions from Mercedes-Benz Financial Services like ‘Flexinomics’, ‘STAR Agility’ and ‘STAR Supersonic’ loan approvals etc. are all tailor made for our customers. These solutions will provide benchmarking value proposition enabling a hassle free purchase, while our after-sales programmes like Star Care, Star Ease and Road Side Assistance, will enhance the customer’s overall ownership experience.”

Mercedes Benz has also announced a hike in the range of 2.5% - 4.5% for all models w.e.f 1st September 2013.

This is not at all surprising looking at the current INR scenario w.r.t USD. I think even manufacturers like Hyundai, Honda will bill forced to raise the price of their CBU models.
Slight off topic is the plight of us petrol diesel heads pay more for vehicle and even more for running it

The depreciating money has taken its toll on yet another auto manufacturer as Toyota has announced a price hike of one per cent on the Fortuner and Camry models. We had recently reported similar hikes by GM, Mercedes-Benz and Audi all of whom are affected by the plunging value of our currency and the rising inflation.

International car manufacturers are forced into the decision despite having local assembly plants in the country due to their dependency on foreign imports. Same is the case with the Fortuner and the Camry which depend heavily on imports as part of their assembly as compared to local manufacturing. The Fortuner which is currently priced at Rs 22.01 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) will see a hike of around Rs 22,000 while the price of the Camry will go up by close to Rs 25,000. The recently launched Camry hybrid will most likely see an increase in its price tag as Toyota should have already accounted for this before the launch.

Speaking of this increase in prices to the their models, Toyota deputy managing director and CEO, Mr Sandeep Singh-

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With the rupee depreciation and rising inflation we have increased the prices of Camry Petrol and Fortuner. The prices have been increased by 1%. Last month we launched the Camry Hybrid; this is in line with offering advanced technology to our customers and encouraging the use of hybrid in India thereby contributing to a greener tomorrow. The market is still sluggish; however we hope to see the market improve with good monsoons and the upcoming festive season.

The rupee depreciation is impacting our margins very heavily. We have to increase our prices soon. We are currently working out the quantum of it and we might take a final call around September 10. - Arvind Saxena.

The depreciating value of rupee has forced car manufacturers to increase prices of their vehicles. Couple of days back, we reported that Toyota has increased the prices of Camry and Fortuner by 1 per cent, now the Ford India hikes the prices by 1-5 per cent on different models with immediate effect to balance the rising input costs.

However, the company did not disclose the details of the vehicles to be effected by the price hike. The company's popular model in India are Figo hatch, Fiesta sedan and the recently launched compact SUV EcoSport. The company said that the reason behind increasing the prices are consistently rising input costs as a result of macroeconomic factors such as high inflation, depreciating rupee and high interest rates.

Input costs have been consistently increasing and this is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Although we have absorbed increases in costs over the past period, the situation is such that we now need to revise the prices of our vehicles.

The three German luxury car manufacturers- BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz has already hiked the prices of their vehicles by up to 5 per cent to offset rising input costs. While Mercedes-Benz had hiked the prices of its entire line-up by up to 4.5 per cent, BMW including MINI hiked prices by up to 5 per cent and Audi raised the prices by up to 4 per cent. General Motors has also hiked the price of its three cars by up to Rs. 10,000.

Not even three months after its launch, Ford India has increased the prices for the EcoSport compact SUV, with prices going up by around Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000,depending on the variant, effective immediately.

The price rise means that the starting price for the 1.5-litre petrol Ambiente variant is now Rs 5.85 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), up by Rs 26,000 from Rs 5.59 lakh. Similarly, the top-spec 1.5-litre Titanium (O) diesel trim now costs Rs 9.40 lakh, up from Rs 8.99 lakh, while the 1.0-litre Titanium (O) EcoBoost variant’s price has gone up by Rs 41,000 to Rs 8.69 lakh.

Hyundai has announced a price hike of its all models in India starting from Eon to Santa-Fe except New Hyundai Grand i10 w.e.f October 1, 2013.

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“The rupee depreciation and inflationary trends have impacted our input costs. We have been absorbing most of the costs but now we are compelled to consider the price increase. We will be increasing the prices from October 01 by Rs.4,000/- to Rs. 20,000/- across models except our new model Hyundai Grand which has been recently launched at an aggressive introductory price.” - Mr. Rakesh Srivastava, Sr. Vice President, Sales and Marketing.

So has Toyota. Following is the list of increased price applicable from September 21, 2013.

GUWAHATI: Maruti Suzuki India, country's largest car maker, on Wednesday said it will increase the prices of its entire range of models by up to Rs 10,000 from October first week, mainly due to depreciation of rupee.

"We have been wanting to raise the price for some time as our input costs went up severely, mainly on account of weakening of rupee. However, the market was not conducive. Now it has become inevitable," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chief Operating Officer (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek told .

NEW DELHI: Japanese auto maker Nissan today hiked prices of its mid-sized sedan Sunny and compact car Micra by up to 2.9 per cent from immediate effect, to partially offset the impact of rupee depreciation and escalating input costs.

The increase, ranging from 1.4 per cent to 2.9 per cent, applies to most variants of Sunny, Micra and Micra Active and would be effective from today, the company said in a statement.

"The prices are revised to minimise the impact of rupee depreciation and offset rising input costs and raw materials costs due to inflation," Hover Automotive India (Nissan's National Sales Company in India) Director - Sales & Marketing Nitish Tipnis said.

The price increase is marginal and the company is confident that the customers will appreciate its efforts to offer globally renowned products at affordable prices, he added.

Last week, Mahindra & Mahindra had announced a hike in prices of its passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the range of Rs 6,000 to Rs 20,000 from October 1.

Earlier, Maruti SuzukiBSE 1.62 % India had announced hike in prices of its entire range of models by up to Rs 10,000 from October first week, mainly due to depreciation of rupee.

Hyundai and General Motors have also announced increase in vehicle prices by up to Rs 20,000 to offset the impact of rupee depreciation and rising input costs, resulting in higher spending by new car buyers in the festive season.

Although the rupee has recovered some ground against the dollar in the past weeks, it had depreciated for a prolonged period. It has weakened against the dollar since April, pushing up import and input costs.